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Kentucky Air National Guard establishes air hub for Hurricane Maria relief

Master Sgt. Harley Bobay, a combat controller with the Kentucky Air National Guard’s 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, provides air traffic control to planes delivering relief supplies to Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Sept. 22, 2017. Bobay deployed to the Caribbean to support recovery operations following Hurricane Maria.(Photo: U.S. Air National Guard Photo)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Thirty two members of the 123rd Contingency Response Group departed the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville Sept. 23, 2017, to establish an air cargo hub that will support Hurricane Maria relief operations across the Caribbean.

The Kentucky Air Guardsmen deployed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they will establish an Intermediate Staging Base to receive cargo and humanitarian aid by airlift, and prepare it for forward distribution as needed, according to Lt. Col. Steve Campbell, one of the group’s squadron commanders. They’ll join a team of eight Airmen who previously deployed to assess the operational capabilities at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport.

The unit is completely self-sufficient and typically achieves operational status within hours of arriving on the ground, Campbell said. They bring with them everything needed to operate an air cargo hub; from communications and power-generation capability, to all-terrain forklifts and aircraft maintenance personnel.

“We’ll go in there and set up everything to sustain operations immediately,” Campbell said. “We don’t need any outside water, electricity or (communications) because we bring our own. All we need is a runway and a ramp, and we’ll set up an airfield to start bringing in relief supplies.”

Airmen from the 123rd Airlift Wing load equipment onto a West Virginia Air National Guard C-17 at the Kentucky Air National Guard Base in Louisville, Ky., Sept 23, 2017, in support of Hurricane Maria recovery operations. Thirty-two members of the Kentucky ANG’s 123rd Contingency Response Group, along with equipment, deployed to San Juan, Puerto Rico to establish an air cargo hub to process relief supplies.(Photo: U.S. Air National Guard Photo/Master Sgt. Phil Speck)

Campbell added the unit is usually on a 12-hour stand-by for missions like this, and prefers to operate that way.

“We were also deployed to Texas in support of Hurricane Harvey, and we came home and reconstituted in two days,” he said. “So we were packed up and ready to go again when the call came for (Hurricane) Maria. Readiness is our mission, and we love doing it.”

Members of the Kentucky ANG’s 123rd Contingency Response Group have a lengthy history of deploying in support of disaster-recovery operations. In 2010, the unit was hand-picked to establish and operate one of two overseas airlift hubs supporting earthquake-recovery efforts in Haiti, directing the delivery of hundreds of tons of relief supplies into the Dominican Republic for subsequent trucking to Haiti.

The 123rd CRG also deployed to Senegal in 2014 to establish and operate an Aerial Port of Debarkation/Intermediate Staging Base in support of Operation United Assistance, the international effort to fight the largest Ebola outbreak in history. The unit’s Airmen processed 193 aircraft and 1,200 short tons of cargo, including blood, plasma and tactical vehicles during the two-month deployment.

As the latest group prepares to stand up an air hub in Puerto Rico, seven Airmen from the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron have already have provided air traffic control for more than 75 aircraft supporting relief operations in St. Croix.

In addition, the Kentucky ANG’s 165th Airlift Squadron deployed three C-130 aircraft and 21 Airmen to the Caribbean on Sept. 22, to fly airlift missions throughout the region, said Lt. Col. Matt Quenichet, the unit’s director of operations.

Brig. Gen. Warren Hurst, Kentucky ANG’s assistant adjutant general for air, noted that Hurricane Maria marks the third hurricane in a month for which Airmen have deployed from the Kentucky ANG and its main operational unit, the 123rd Airlift Wing.

“The 123rd Airlift Wing, 123rd Special Tactics Squadron, 165th Airlift Squadron and 123rd Contingency Response Group have done a tremendous job supporting back-to-back hurricane rescue, relief and evacuation operations for the past several weeks,” Hurst said. “The 123rd Airlift Wing commander, Colonel Dave Mounkes, in anticipation of emerging requirements, properly prepared and positioned his forces to respond in minimum time when tasked for support. The effective coordination between the wing and multiple headquarters is at an all-time high. There has been an incredible support effort at the base to make this happen.”

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